


More Than Warriors

by Guardian_of_Hope



Series: Silver Journey [1]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers in Space
Genre: Adventure, Drama, F/M, Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, OC Character Death, Romance, Team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2015-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:52:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/783084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian_of_Hope/pseuds/Guardian_of_Hope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zhane sees things differently than most</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

[ ](http://s915.photobucket.com/user/guardianofhope/media/ZhaneSW_zps6443d32e.jpg.html)

 

A little boy huddled against the steel gray wall of his mother's spaceship. The sparse grey furnishings of the quarantine suite were broken only by the brightly colored toys scattered around the little boy's hiding space.

"Zhane?" A breathless weak woman's voice filled the room.

"Mama?" The little boy asked, "Mama, where are you? Can I come out now? I'll be a good boy."

The woman coughed, "Zhane you are the best boy ever. You have to stay there." The woman stopped to coughed again, it was a dry, raspy series of coughs that left her gasping. "Zhane listen, you are, you're the best. Never forget. I love you." She started coughing again.

"Mama!" The little boy jumped to his feet, "I love you mama. Let me out!"

"Be the best," the woman rasped, "love you."

Hold white threw himself at the recess door of the street "Mama let me out!" he sobbed, beating on the door.

It would be four days before a rescue crew would arrive from KO–35, and months before the little boy smiled. For two years, the only person who heard him speak was a little boy who had also lost the most important person in his world.


	2. Team United

[ ](http://s915.photobucket.com/user/guardianofhope/media/ZhaneSW_zps6443d32e.jpg.html)

 

When Zhane was 13 years old, he finally achieved his greatest dream. He had known that he would become a Silver Ranger ever since the day his Uncle Kartai had shown him the light inside of him. That had been one of the longest periods of time that he had stayed on a planet, before his mother's death that is. His mother, a former green ranger, had become a merchant after her retirement. Up until the days before his fifth birthday, Zhane and his mother had traveled a great deal.

That it had taken nearly 10 years to find the morpher he had been promised on that long ago day had not been a surprise. In fact, Zhane had thought it would take longer. After all most humans didn't get a morpher until they were 18.

It was a day he would never forget.

Zhane and Andros had gone to Eltare to retrieve Andros's injured teammate, Analyn. She had had a nasty run in with some smugglers and had needed medical aid beyond the colony's abilities. Kartai was waiting when they landed on Eltare with a purple robed figure.

"Greetings Uncle Kartai," Zhane said. He gave a short bow of respect to the Purple Ranger before focusing on his uncle. "How have you been?"

Kartai held up his arms and pulled the teen into a quick hug. "I've been just fine; my research has been proving interesting. What about you, Zhane?"

"I thought I would never get off KO–35, Andros sprung me because I begged him to." Zhane turned and gestured to Andros, "Have you met Uncle Kartai?"

"We have met," Andros replied as he stepped forward, "when we brought Analyn here."

"I'm sure your teammate is ready to go home," Kartai said genially. "However, that is not why I'm here today. Andros, Zhane, this is my teammate Ranger Mykol, a Purple Ranger. Mykol has told me that now is the time for Zhane to accept his morpher."

" _His_  morpher?" Andros asked incredulously.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Zhane told him with a mock pout. He turned to Kartai, " _Now?_  With what team?"

"With the Astros," Mykol said quietly. He lifted his head, allowing his face to be seen including the fact that his eyes were violet. "You deserve a morpher, and being the Silver Astro Ranger is your destiny. With a six ranger, the Astro Rangers will prove key to ending this war although it may not come about the way you expect."

Zhane looked over at Andros; his friend looked white as a sheet. "Is there anything that I have to do now?" He said, "Or do the Astros have to make the request?"

"As long as Andros has no objections, the morpher is already waiting for you. All that must occur is your acceptance." Kartai replied.

Andros shook his head, as if to brush off some odd thought, "I would be crazy to object. _Any_  Red Ranger would be crazy to reject a Silver Ranger." He gave Zhane a brilliant smile, "Especially for that ranger to be you. Welcome to the team."

"Then you should get your teammate Andros, while Zhane and I go to get his morpher. We will meet you back here." Kartai said.

"All right," Andros replied.

Zhane followed Kartai into the Ranger Hall, where the Rangers kept their oldest and most valuable records of ranger lore. Instead of going to the Records, which Zhane had visited with his mother, they went through an unremarkable wooden door that lead to a flight of stairs to an underground complex. There was a large, metal door that opened when Kartai held up his morpher, beyond the door was a short corridor with a cross corridor about six paces from the door. Beyond the cross corridor was another door, this one made of dark wood with frosted glass. As they passed the cross corridor, Zhane glanced both ways and saw other doors on each side.

The glass and wood door was their goal; beyond it was a small well appointed chapel. There was an altar at the far end of the room covered in a silver cloth. On the wall above the altar was the symbol of the Light, a sun in glory made of clear glass and silver. On the altar, a dark wooden box waited.

"Open it," Kartai instructed him.

Zhane reached trembling hands for the box; he paused for a moment, and then opened the box. Inside sat an object that he had seen in his dreams, the Digimorpher. "I have dreamed of this," he whispered.

"Use it well."

" _You have got to be kidding me!"_

Zhane rolled his eyes, he had been settling into his quarters when DECA had summoned him to the bridge. Jos could be heard from the lift at the end of the corridor, and he was clearly not happy with the Astros's new team member. It was a fair bet that some of the others were equally unhappy although Analyn seemed indifferent. Zhane entered the bridge to find Andros squaring off against Jos, Neverro, and Loryn while Analyn stood to one side. "Look" He said, catching everyone's attention, "I have always been a silver ranger, I just never had a team or a morpher. Now, whether you like it or not, I have both. Silver Rangers are different; each one of us has our own style. You don't have to like it, but I'm not going anywhere."

"Zhane is right," declared Analyn. "All you are doing is sounding like idiots." The pink ranger crossed her arms and lifted her chin, "Having a Silver Ranger on the team makes us stronger, better able to do our job. Besides, up until the moment Andros told you that Zhane was our sixth ranger, you thought Zhane was a great guy, why does that change because he has a morpher?"

Jos threw his hands up, "Of course you'd take  _Andros's side._ "

"What's that supposed to mean?" Analyn asked.

"Stop it," Andros snapped, "everyone just stop. Jos, back off. Analyn, thank you for your support. The fact of the matter is, even if I didn't want Zhane to be a Ranger, I'd have been an idiot to say so right in front of Ranger Kartai. Fact of the matter is, we need all the help we can get. Dark Spector isn't going to go away just because we wish really hard." He glared at his teammates. "Jos, walk with me," he said finally. "We need to talk, apparently."

The blond haired blue ranger opened his mouth, and then closed it at Andros's glare. He followed Andros closely as the red ranger stalked off the bridge. Zhane watched the two of them head for the lift with a frown. "It's not you."

Zhane turned to find Loryn, the yellow ranger, approaching hesitantly. "Jos has been, less than pleasant to be around for some time. It's not you."

"I'm just an excuse?" Zhane suggested, glancing from Loryn to Neverro and Analyn.

"Something like that," Neverro agreed. The lanky black ranger grinned at him, "Jos has an embarrassing crush on Analyn, who has an embarrassing crush on Andros who is clueless as a rock."

Zhane chuckled, "Sounds about right for Andros. He's special like that. Now then, are there any other questions about me? I'm fully capable of explaining most things."

The yellow ranger half raised her hand, and then slid it over her close cut black and red streaked hair. "Just one," Loryn said, "why didn't you ever say anything?"

Zhane shrugged, "I was a Silver Ranger, and I've known that all my life. The Astros didn't have a Silver morpher, so why should I consider it a possibility. Unlike most other colors, Silvers don't have a defining trait except that we're good. Well, some Silvers have a looser definition of good than others. All I ever had to do was be myself, because I am the best me I can possibly be."

"Who told you that?" Neverro asked with a snort.

"My mom," Zhane said quietly. He looked away, rather than see the pity that was sure to show up in Neverro's eyes. Zhane's history was more of an open secret amongst Andros's teammates than anything, but that didn't mean that Zhane enjoyed knowing that the Rangers were aware of his history.

"She was right," Analyn announced, "you're great. Now, did you get everything settled in before you came up here or would you like some help?"

Zhane shook his head, "I didn't have much worth keeping, actually. I'm not a materialistic sort of guy."

"Says the man who keeps a battle ship for his personal use," Neverro muttered.

"The Delta?" Zhane replied, "She isn't actually a battleship. The Ilandians decommissioned her before Mom bought her. She could become a battleship with a little work, but she's a merchant ship now."

"My dad said the Delta was fully armed," Neverro said, half challenging.

"No," Zhane shook his head, "only a third of the weapons work. Her shields were full grade back when Mom bought her, but they haven't been overhauled or updated in twenty years. Most of the weapons ports are blocked closed, and she doesn't have any kinetics at all. Not to mention that MOE isn't battle class grade. You'd have to have the key cards to upgrade MOE's programming, and then you'd have to stock the kinetics, repair the ports and overhaul the shields."

"Why don't you?" Loryn asked, "It's not like KO-35 couldn't use the extra fire power."

"Maybe for the Rangers," Zhane said, "but MOE and the Delta are all I have of my mom. I don't want anything to happen to them." He considered for a moment, toying with the phoenix charm he wore around his neck. "I'll talk to Andros about it. He'll know what to do."

Loryn smiled brightly, "Sounds like a plan."

"Agreed," Zhane said, giving the pink ranger his most charming smile. He hoped it was enough to hide the fact that somewhere deep inside, he knew this wasn't  _his_  team. Mykol's warning that the Astros would win the war in an unexpected way nagged at him, keeping him too aware of his uneasiness.


	3. Fallen Silver

Zhane poked the bright pink lump carefully.

“Geroff!” The lump groaned.

“Andros,” Zhane said cheerfully and loudly, “I think it’s alive.”

“Oobeadoon,” someone said.

“Sorry,” Zhane fell on the red air mattress with a thump. “I don’t speak pillow.” He glanced around the room at the brightly colored air mattresses. The blue mattress was already empty, but then Jos had not partaken in their festivities the night before, choosing instead to stand watch. Zhane’s own mattress and sheets were about three inches from Andros’s, but as Zhane bounced on his friend’s air mattress, he decided that the red ranger had definitely gotten the better bed.

“Zhane,” Jos said quietly, “leave them alone.” The lean blue ranger slid into the observatory and stared down at Zhane with disapproval in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Zhane asked loudly. He shifted around so that he was kneeling half over Andros, who was whimpering and trying to burrow further under his pillow and sheets.

“Stop,” Jos hissed, glancing at their teammates and back at Zhane.

“I can’t hear you,” Zhane said, grinning brightly and clapping his hands over his ears childishly.

“Leave them alone,” Jos said, louder.

“Still can’t hear you,” Zhane sing-songed cheerfully before launching to a full on song, “Oh, I once knew a lady.”

“Shut up!” Jos shouted.

“You first,” Neverro groaned, or rather a black lump on the far side of the observatory groaned, “Really Jos, let us die in peace.” One of the grey pillows on Zhane’s bed lifted into the air and slammed into the laughing Zhane.

Grinning Zhane jumped to his feet, “I know just the thing. I’ll be right back.” He hopped out of the room as noisily as possible.

“That’s a little cruel, don’t you think?” Jos said, following him.

Zhane grinned, “They don’t know how to prevent hangovers, so they deserve it.”

“Why don’t you have a hangover, you drank more than they did.” Jos asked.

“Water and food,” Zhane replied, “I had a glass of water for every two drinks, and I ate most of the food we ordered.” Zhane stepped into the lift and hit the button. Turning to Jos, Zhane smiled charmingly, “And Jos, my mother was a green ranger. I’m genetically predisposed to give my team a hard time when they’re being stupid.”

Jos snorted and shook his head as the lift opened, “So, what are we getting from the infirmary?”

“That red ranger we met, Alia, her yellow gave me a recipe that he swore by. Not only that, but I’ve had no harmful effects and Uncle Kartai said it works as advertised.”

“So, your uncle,” Jos said, watching as Zhane programmed the synthesizer, “what does he do? I know there was an Eltarean Ranger named Kartai.”

“Same person,” Zhane replied, “he’s a scientist now.”

“What kind?”

“Kartai is studying how the morphers respond to different people, and how the Power reacts to the morphers. He had this discovery several years ago, that certain gems can amplify the Power exponentially, while others can filter it. He says that filtered morphers can be very useful in the intergalactic community, for law enforcement mainly.”

“Why would a less powerful morpher be useful, we need all the Power Rangers we can find,” Jos said.

“True,” Zhane said, “but not everyone can be a Power Ranger. These filters, they can help a weaker species deal with a stronger one. I mean, imagine going up against a Ronig without a morpher.”

“What’s a Ronig?”

“They’re from the planet Rondelorpaxon; they’re a big furry people, solid muscle and bone. They have higher bone density and mass because Rondelorpaxon is a high gravity world. They can literally rip a person’s arm off on accident.”

Jos whistled, “That is a strong race.”

“Yes, well, these filtered morphers? They boost strength and such by about fifteen percent. They also help healing as well. They don’t require the kind of selection process that a Ranger’s morpher does. That’s their weakness; anyone can use a filtered morpher.”

“What about the colors then?” Jos asked, “Aare these filtered morphers on the spectrum?”

“Not exactly,” Zhane admitted. “They are usually orange, but they can mimic Ranger colors.”

“Do you think that’s a good thing?” Jos asked.

“I think Uncle Kartai shouldn’t tell people how to use the mimic feature, but that’s just me.”

“I think I agree,” Jos said. The blue ranger gave Zhane an assessing look. “You know, you aren’t half bad; when you’re not trying to fool around.”

Zhane grinned, “Most of my ‘fooling around’ as you put it is for Andros. He needs to laugh.” Zhane took a tray from one of the lower cabinets and started pulling drinks from the synthesizer. “Andros has a brooding problem. My job is to help him overcome it.”

“You make brooding sound like an addiction,” Jos said.

Zhane glanced at Jos for a moment, “I’m sorry, have you met Andros?”

Jos laughed, “He does brood a lot, doesn’t he?”

“He’s better than he was when we were kids,” Zhane replied, he picked up the tray. “He used to be brood, eat, sleep, and repeat.”

“True, now he’s added training and fighting,” Jos pointed out. “That’s an improvement.”

“Now we just get our teammates to drink this, and they’ll be fine,” Zhane said.

“Zhane,” DECA said, “I have an incoming, urgent message from Ranger Kartai of Eltare. He requests a private link.”

“I’ll take those,” Jos said, “go.”

“Right.” After handing over the tray, Zhane ran for his room. Pausing only to throw some things off his bed to make the room look halfway decent, Zhane slid in front of the com station, “Activate com,” he said.

The familiar face of his mother’s friend snapped into view, “Zhane of KO-35,” Kartai said.

“Kartai of Eltare,” Zhane replied, “what’s going on?”

“Sirius has fallen,” Kartai said.

Zhane closed his eyes, “I- is that what I felt last night?”

Kartai nodded solemnly, “Her name was Lucina.”

Zhane’s fist hit the console before he was even conscious of the movement, “Dark Spector,” he growled.

“No,” Kartai replied, “Dark Spector was not the cause of this. I cannot tell you more than that right now, though.”

Zhane looked at his uncle for a long moment, “Why can’t you tell me?”

“Because at the moment, we don’t know who did it,” Kartai said. “The reports are mixed, ranging from some unknown entity to the Arpen, and even one claiming that Eltare was responsible. The only thing we have is a possible name.”

“A name,” Zhane hissed.

“Grumm.”

MTWSWMTWSWMTWSWMTWSW

Zhane found his team still in the observatory, more or less recovered from their drinking the night before. Andros noticed him first, “Zhane!” The Red Ranger leapt to his feet, hand reaching for Zhane, “Are you ok?”

Zhane stumbled forward and let his friend pull him into a tight hug. He wasn’t sure how he would be able to explain this. He knew he didn’t have the words for what he felt. The Silvers, they were _there_ , in his mind and soul and had been since the Digimorpher had come to him. Kartai had promised to teach him the tricks of the Silvers as he grew older, but there had been no training for this. Finally, he forced himself to step back and look at his team. “A Silver Ranger died last night,” he said.

“What happened?” Andros asked.

“Her name was Lucina,” Zhane said as tears welled in his eyes, grief for a woman he would never meet causing his voice to crack. “She fought for Sirius. The planet fell, the whole team is gone.” He closed his eyes for a long moment, and then looked around. They looked stunned and horrified, but it was the look of an innocent, hearing something terrible. Only Andros looked different, his horror and grief were different, the scars of a man who had felt something similar.

“Last night,” Andros said, “you started acting weird.”

Zhane brushed his cheek with the palm of his hand and nodded, “I felt it. I didn’t know what I felt but, I felt her die. It’s like, it’s like I was in a field of stars and one of them went out. It was like the whole universe became a bit darker all of a sudden.”

Andros hugged him again at Zhane felt the tears come back. Someone touched his shoulder and then a warm body leaned against his right side. A second wiggled under Andros’s arm on his left. Then the whole group shifted as two more bodies surrounded him. A familiar, but long silent voice whispered in his ear, “ _Amast_ , Phoenix.” _Safe, Phoenix._

Zhane clung to his best friend, surrounded by his teammates, and sobbed as a whisper in the back of his mind sang an old lullaby.


	4. Delta Awakens

The Delta had been at the Harleen Space Port for almost ten years and except for some maintenance and one emergency call out, it had been in the same dock since the day the Kerova Space Rescue team had brought it in.

Zhane had gone to the ship once a year ever since, accompanied by foster parents and orphanage workers. He knew his mother's family paid to keep the ship on KO-35 rather than allow him to come to Ilan.

As Zhane led his team on board the ship, he wondered what those relatives would say when they learned he was a silver ranger.

"So this is the Delta," Jos commented, looking up as the lights came on.

"It's not much," Zhane said, heading for the auxiliary bridge.

"You were born here," Neverro said, touching his back gently, "That's something."

Zhane shivered a little, and hurried over to the console, "This is the auxiliary bridge," he said, glancing over his shoulder at his friends. He couldn't believe it had been almost a year since he'd been given his morpher. They had grown close in that year, which made it hard for Zhane to remember that something was going to happen to his team, something unexpected. "Without the keycards, this is where you handle the ship."

"Where are the keycards?" Jos asked.

Zhane smiled, "They're on the bridge. It's the safest place for them given that the bridge locked down after Mom died." He ran his hand over the console, bringing it to light.

"Greetings Ranger Zhane," Moe said cheerfully.

"Hey Moe," Zhane replied, activating the scan plate, "I need to talk to BEAU."

"I'll need confirmation," Moe said.

"Sure thing," Zhane said, and pressed his palm on the plate.

"BEAU?" Analyn asked.

"Mom programmed Moe as my babysitter," Zhane said, "BEAU is the Delta's primary AI. After Mom died, Moe handled all the interactions." He jolted as the plate took a DNA scan. "BEAU locked down the bridge until I was ready."

"Indeed, Ranger Zhane," the smooth, masculine voice said, "and congratulations."

Zhane grinned, "Thanks BEAU. These are my teammates, Andros in Red, Jos in Blue, Neverro in Black, Analyn in Pink, and Loryn in Yellow."

"Greetings, Rangers," BEAU said.

"We need to access the bridge," Zhane said, heading towards the wall.

"I trust you have the key," BEAU said as a panel slid into the wall, revealing a recessed space that lit up with a cool, blue light.

"Never leave home without it," Zhane replied. He reached up and began to work the clasp on his necklace.

After a few moments of struggling, Neverro appeared at his elbow, "Need help?"

Zhane smiled at him, "Yes please."

Moments later, Neverro was dropping the necklace in Zhane's open hand. "There you go.

"Thank you," Zhane said, feeling his cheeks warm under Neverro's gaze. He stepped away when Andros coughed, and put the necklace in the space.

After a moment, a door slid open and Zhane stepped forward, "Welcome to the heart of the Delta."

He hurried down the wall, eyes focused on the wall opposite of the quarantine chamber, then he startled when someone bumped his shoulder. He looked over to see Andros walking beside him. "You're crying," Andros said.

Zhane touched his cheek, and looked down, surprised to find his fingers wet. "The air's dry," he said, "my eyes are just watering." The corridor opened onto the bridge and Zhane spread out his hands, "Feel free to look around. BEAU will keep you from blowing up the ship." He turned to the pilot chair and knelt down.

"What are you doing?" Loryn asked, crouching down beside him.

"Looking for the latch to where the keycards are out," Zhane replied, trailing his fingers around the base of the chair. "It's been a long time since I've seen them."

"Hey Zhane," Analyn said, "Did you know that Delta has a Megazord configuration?"

"No," Zhane said.

"I wonder how you'd activate it," Jos said.

Zhane glanced up and found that Analyn and Jos were studying one of the consoles. "BEAU, how do we activate the Megazord configuration?"

"There is a device that is required," BEAU said after a long moment, "it is not on board the Delta at this time."

"Do you know where it is?" Zhane asked, running his fingers over a section of the flooring.

"Katanya gave the device to someone you would trust," BEAU said, "That is all she ever said. That it would be someone you would trust."

Zhane nodded as he ran his fingers over the plate again, "Found it," he announced. He pressed his fingers into the four uneven spaces and watched as the metal plate beside the one he'd been probing lifted up. Zhane pulled out the keycards and held them up. "Now we have them if we need them."

Andros took the cards with a smile, "Thank you, I know this wasn't easy."

Zhane shrugged, "I'm here to protect KO-35, and the Delta can help do that."

Neverro offered his hand and Zhane grasped it tightly as he stood up. "Have you been here many times?" He asked quietly.

"A few times," Zhane said, "when my minders let me come on the ship alone. Usually, I just go to the auxiliary bridge." He glanced down; surprised to find that he was still holding Neverro's hand.

"Hey Zhane," Loryn said, "ow, Analyn!"

Zhane turned, "What's up?"

Loryn was rubbing her side and glaring at Analyn, "I just wanted to know what kind of weaponry we wanted. Mom said she'd help us deal with the council even if Kinwon didn't say anything."

"Uncle Kinwon's not sure if we can be trusted," Jos said, "after what happened last week."

"Which part?" Andros and Zhane asked in unison. They grinned at each other.

"Probably all of it," Jos replied. "I think he'd approve the weaponry if he knew he could trust the pilots."

"You should pilot the Delta then," Zhane decided, "Kinwon trusts you more than any of us."

"Are you sure?" Jos asked.

Zhane shrugged, freeing his hand from Neverro, "I'm not a good pilot, Jos. I'm all right with a co-pilot, but handling the Delta is a little beyond my skill set. Besides Andros, you're the best pilot we have, and taking Andros away from the megaship would just be cruel to DECA."

"That just means finding a pilot for Beta," Loryn said.

"You pilot Beta," Andros said, frowning at Loryn, "you know that. You're the only one that stupid AI will work with."

Zhane chuckled, because Andros still wasn't over the Beta Megaship's AI calling him a 'walking disaster zone' after their first simulated battle. To be fair, Andros had piloted Beta into one of the asteroid belts while chasing simulated quantron fighters.

Andros glared at Zhane for a moment, then turned, "Loryn, Jos, you need to pick your co-pilots. That will give us two megaships and a battleship ready for action."

"Don't you want to pick first?" Loryn asked.

Andros shrugged, "I would rather you two pick who you're comfortable with. I know I can work with Neverro, Zhane and Analyn in any situation."

"Fine by me," Loryn said, "I call Neverro. He's the best shot on this team, and BETA actually likes him."

"If I must," Neverro replied. Beta's AI was well known for her sarcasm, but she did tolerate Neverro and Loryn best.

"In that case," Jos said, "I want Analyn, she's the best navigator, and she's a good shot."

Zhane grinned at Andros, "Looks like you and I get to annoy DECA some more."

"Sounds like a plan," Andros said with a smile. "We should get back, though. You know how testy Kinwon gets if he can't get in contact with us right away."

"Kinwon needs to get a hobby," Zhane muttered. He glanced up, "BEAU, keep cover unless a Ranger needs the Delta. I don't want people getting the idea that they can just highjack her for whatever reasons."

"Understood," BEAU replied.

The Astro Rangers reached for their morphers and teleported back to the Astro Megaship.

For a long moment, the team stood on the bridge, seemingly lost in their own thoughts, then Loryn coughed, "I'm going to get a workout in," she announced, "Jos, want to spar?"

"Am I going to wind up with unexplainable bruises again?" Jos asked.

"Probably," Loryn said, "if only because you hate admitting you were defeated by a girl."

The pair headed off the bridge, bickering amicably. As soon as the lift closed, Analyn reached for Andros's hand, "You promised to help me work on that port side shield generator," she told Andros, "let's go."

Zhane watched as Analyn dragged Andros off the bridge, and realized that he was left alone with Neverro, "I should," Zhane began.

"Wait," Neverro said, "I wanted to ask you something."

Zhane licked his lips, "What?" He asked.

"Well," Neverro said. He looked down for a moment, then at the wall, "Why is this so hard?" He muttered.

"Are you ok?" Zhane asked.

"Yeah," Neverro said, "it's just, I like you Zhane."

Zhane blinked, "Well that's good, we are teammates after all."

Neverro closed his eyes for a moment, "No, Zhane, I mean that I  _like_  you."

"Ok," Zhane said slowly.

"And," Neverro hesitated, "Niki Starfire's new holovid is out and I was wondering if you wanted to see it."

"It's Niki Starfire," Zhane said, "I love her work. The team could use a team building activity."

"Not the team," Neverro said, "just you, and me."

"What like a date?" Zhane asked hesitantly.

"Exactly like a date," Neverro said, looking relieved.

Zhane blinked a few times, then smiled shyly at his friend, "I would like that very much."

Neverro smiled, "Great. There's a showing in about an hour, if you don't have anything you need to do, of course."

"I have no plans," Zhane said, "unless we're attacked or something, but then we'd both be busy."

"Then I'll meet you here an hour and we can go?" Neverro prompted him.

"It's a date," Zhane said.


	5. To Remember

Zhane woke up with a smile on his face. Neverro had taken him on a date, his first date, and it had been a lot of fun. They'd caught the holovid, just missing the worst of the afternoon crowds, and then they'd gone to a nice restaurant. It had been strange to be out with Neverro alone and not Andros, or the team as a whole, but fun. They had talked about little things, Zhane sharing some stories from before his mother died, and Neverro telling him about his life with a family of miners.

They'd gotten back to the Megaship well after sunset, but Andros had been up, standing watch until all the Rangers were safe on board. That hadn't kept Neverro from giving him a quick but gentle kiss before they had parted ways.

"Zhane," DECA said suddenly, "the Astros wish you to join them for breakfast."

"Tell them I'll be just a moment," Zhane replied. He got up, cleaned up and pulled on his uniform, carrying the black jacket over one arm.

The rest of the team was seated around the table in the glider bay, and from the way Neverro was staring at his tray, the teasing had already started. "Good morning Zhane," Loryn said with a bright smile.

"Morning Loryn," Zhane replied as he headed for the synthatron.

"I had an interesting message from Uncle Kinwon," Jos said suddenly.

"Oh?" Andros asked.

"Apparently there are some people asking why we aren't at least living in the ranger quarters," Jos replied.

"Because we had four night calls in six days and it took too long for us to respond," Analyn said quietly.

"Because our neighbors are quietly noisy?" Zhane offered, remembering how upset Andros had been when they figured out just how effective the local grapevine was.

"Because there's no rule that says we have to," Neverro added. "I don't know about you, but my parents would be impossible if I lived with them now. They worry enough just because I'm a Ranger, they don't need to know how often we end up fighting Quantrons."

"Agreed," Loryn said.

"I'll talk to Kinwon," Andros said, "if he needs a response."

"What will you tell him?" Analyn asked.

"That we decided it was more efficient if we were to be on the Megaship after the increase in Quantron attacks. Having to teleport to and from the Megaship means that DECA has a better idea of where we are should an emergency require us to be teleported back immediately." Andros said.

"I think it was more that Uncle Kinwon was curious," Jos said, "and it was an interesting rumor."

"Because we care so much about rumor," Andros said softly before standing up. "You all know the schedule for today. Remember to check in with DECA if you leave the Megaship."

"What about you?" Analyn asked softly.

Andros gave her a shy smile, "I'm going to be off the ship for a while this morning, but I'll be back for training this afternoon." He returned his tray and headed for the jump tubes.

Zhane counted the days in his head and jolted as he recalled the date, "Want some company?" He asked, turning to watch his friend.

Andros's smile was a little tired and sad, "If you want, I didn't want to interrupt your breakfast."

Zhane picked up his trey and put it up then all but ran across the bay, "You know I'm not a breakfast person." He put on his jacket and fastened it closed, just as Andros tugged his own jacket straight. "We'll be back later guys," he added.

"Call if there's an emergency," Andros added.

Zhane threw himself down the blue tube without thought as Andros entered the red one. They emerged on the other side fully morphed and crouched on their gliders. "Are you ok?" Zhane asked as they glided through the early morning sky, heading towards a small cottage set on the edge of a forest.

"I'm fine," Andros replied tersely.

"None of that," Zhane said as they slowed, "not today."

Andros quietly flipped off his board as Zhane jumped down, both banishing their morph as they approached the cottage.

"How am I supposed to feel?" Andros asked as he reached for the door. It slid open and they stepped inside.

The three-bedroom cottage wasn't very large, and there was simplicity to the place that said home, even to Zhane. There was no furniture any more, just the built in shelves and cabinets in the kitchen and living areas. Andros stood for a long moment, and Zhane knew he was thinking of a different time, when there had been furniture, and family, and laughter; not this memorial to a lost child and dead parents. They didn't go upstairs to the small children's rooms, one bright red, one a sunny yellow, but instead Andros headed out the second door, through a small porch and into the back yard.

The caretaker of the land had kept the clearings free of the encroaching woods, but Zhane wasn't sure that was a good thing as Andros gasped weakly. They headed away from the cottage to a clearing where the morning sun was just beginning to chase away the shadows. Andros stood in the center of that clearing, looking impossibly tiny and young as tears began to slip down his cheeks.

Zhane found a place to sit and waited.

It had been eight years since Andros's sister Karone had vanished from this clearing while Andros chased their ball. Every year on that terrible day, Andros spent time remembering his sister, and probably renewing his private vow to find her. Zhane, ever since Andros had told him about Karone, simply kept him company.

He remembered that day, seven years ago now, when they had whispered to each other about their losses, and how they'd connected because of them. He remembered almost four years ago, when Andros and Zhane had made their second pact, Andros to mope less and for Zhane to talk more to other people.

"Zhane."

Zhane jumped and looked up to find Andros standing over him, "Yes, Andros?" He managed, noticing that it was midmorning already.

"Finished figuring out the secrets of the universe?" Andros asked.

"Not yet," Zhane replied as he stood up. "Ready to go back?"

Andros sighed, "Yes," he said finally, "I am."

"Hey," Zhane said, "If you want to stay a little longer, the team will understand. Remember, we vowed to fight for KO-35 together. None of us have to do anything alone."

"No," Andros said, "I should speak with Kinwon, make sure there's no trouble over the ranger quarters."

"I imagine he's just made that they spent that money to build quarters that we never use." Zhane said after a moment. "Isn't it the main worry of the government, to make sure they don't waste money?"

Andros laughed, "Maybe you're right, but still," he glanced over his shoulder, "we should go."


	6. Delta Dreams

" _Red Battelized Ranger!" Andros shouted._

" _Andros," Zhane said, watching his friend perform an aerial assault on a monster. It fired, and whether the lasers were just stronger than Andros's armor, or if the monster had gotten in a lucky shot, Zhane didn't know, but his friend fell, losing his morph entirely before he hit the ground._

_Suddenly, Zhane stood over his best friend and stared at the unmoving, lifeless form._

_The world changed._

_Quantrons were invading, killing civilians as Zhane and his teammates fought to hold them back. He knew that the megaships had been destroyed, the Delta in its Megazord configuration, Beta and Astro during the assault that followed, the System and Planetary Defense Forces were gone, the satellites had been destroyed. If any help were coming, it would not make it in time to save KO-35._

… … … … …

Zhane tried very hard not to look across the bridge of the Astro Megaship to where Andros was talking to two other Rangers, one the Red Ranger from Eltare, Jennis, and the other a black ranger who had neither demorphed nor mentioned his name. "Zhane," Andros said.

Zhane looked up, "Yes?"

Andros raised his eyes, and Zhane stood up and wandered over, "Zhane, Ranger Jennis has a request, and I think you might be the better person to answer it," Andros said.

Zhane turned to Jennis, "Yes, Ranger Jennis?"

Jennis glanced at his companion before speaking, "We've been given to understand that you are the owner of the Delta?"

"I am," Zhane said, crossing his arms. "What's this about?"

"Your mother was Katanya of Ilan," the black ranger asked.

"Yes, she was," Zhane said, trying not to let the pain the simple question invoked obvious.

"Your mother left something in my teammate's possession," the black ranger said quietly. "I do not, at this time, have it with me, but it was meant to work with the Delta."

Zhane looked at Andros, "You have the battelizer," he said, turning back to the black ranger, "or you know where it is?"

"That is correct," the black ranger replied. "I wished to know if you had need of it now."

Zhane closed his eyes and thought of his dreams. "It's not time yet," he said finally. "We're going to need the battelizer, but not now."

"Zhane," Andros said, catching his arm.

Zhane shook his head, "It's not time yet, Andros." He hesitated, "If we have the battelizer, you'll use it. If you use it now, you'll die."

"You know this?" Jennis asked.

"I've dreamed it," Zhane replied quietly, "I just didn't understand."

Andros found Zhane in the observatory after the other Rangers had left, "Was it bad?" He asked, sitting down beside Zhane.

"Bad enough," Zhane replied, "We lost everything. We lost you."

"If I fall, Zhane, there will be another Red Ranger," Andros said.

"He won't be you," Zhane replied, even though he knew that Andros would not understand. Zhane did not like to talk about his dreams; he did not want to explain just how bad things would have to get for them to win.


	7. The Cliff

The tricky thing about the Grid was that you had to be careful about when and why you went there because there was always a price for whatever you went looking for. When Zhane woke up from a desperate trip to the Grid, the price he would pay was a heavy weight on his soul. Instead of dwelling on that price, Zhane thought about what he had learned, what was coming for his teammates. He rolled out of bed and threw on a pair of uniform pants and a silver shirt, shoved his feet into a pair of soft-soled shoes and went searching for a hug.

Neverro was training on the simudeck when Zhane found him. The now sixteen-year-old Black Ranger had just finished a seven-inch growth spurt, making him easily the tallest member of the team.

"Zhane?" Neverro said.

Zhane tried to smile, "Hey."

Neverro put down the staff he was using and walked over looking concerned. "Is everything ok, you're never up this early?"

Zhane fiddled with the hem of his silver shirt, "It's nothing."

"Another nightmare," Neverro said, "that's the fifth night in a row." Zhane stared at the ground, unable to meet his boyfriend's eyes as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Zhane shook his head as tears gathered in the corners of his eyes, "I can't. You'll act differently, and," he stopped, choking on a sob.

Neverro wrapped his arms around Zhane, pulling him tight, "It's okay, I'm here."

Zhane struggled for a moment before he sagged and let Neverro hold him. The tears came quickly after that. He could hear Neverro murmuring in his ear as he rubbed soothing circles on Zhane's back. He cried for what he had seen in his dreams and what he had seen in the Grid, the things that were coming that he could not change and hated that he knew.

Finally, there were no more tears, just sore eyes and a scratchy throat. "Sorry," he said as he tried to pull away.

Neverro held him tightly for a moment before releasing him, "You don't have to apologize, Zhane. Can you tell me anything about your dreams?"

Zhane hesitated, "I don't know," he said. "I'm not supposed to say things that will change the future."

"Then try something general," Neverro said. "Not something personal."

Zhane took a shaky breath, "Dark Spector definitely has the Dark Crown," he said finally. "But we have hope, there are Rangers who can defeat him. They just need the incentive, and that is coming, and it is going to be very bad. If those ter-terrible things don't happen, then it will be a thousand times worse."

"No wonder you're having nightmares," Neverro murmured and hugged Zhane again.

Zhane rested his head on Neverro's shoulder for a long moment, "I need to get ready. Andros is supposed to go to a council meeting today and I need to be with him."

"Hey," Neverro tucked his hand under Zhane's chin and made him look up. After pressing a soft kiss to Zhane's lips, he said, "Remember, Zhane, I will do anything I can for you. All you have to do is ask."

Zhane did not run, but he would not deny that he fled.

The Council meeting was, as Zhane has suspected, mostly boring. He quickly gave up any pretense of paying attention, because not only was it expected of him, but also he wanted to see if he could get Andros to pay attention to him. He started by knocking his boot against Andros's boot. He tapped a series of rhythms on his friend's boot, mostly from whatever song he could think of.

Andros kicked his ankle hard enough that Zhane yelped.

Once people were mostly ignoring him again, Zhane started again. He rested a hand on the arm of his chair and reached over smoothly with the other one to poke Andros's arm. Andros had his eyes focused on Timrest, who spoke for the agricultural interests, and did not look at Zhane. Zhane poked him again. Andros glanced at him, then back to Timrest. Zhane reached out to poke him again.

His finger probably was not dislocated, but Zhane cradled it close to him all the same. He had not even seen Andros move until his finger was bent back.

Zhane pouted at Andros for a moment, but Andros was leaning forward as if to listen to whatever Timrest was talking about, Zhane listened, but it sounded like he was talking about relocating manure, so Zhane considered his next attempt.

There was a pad of paper sitting on the table with a pen, and Zhane quickly snatched the pen. Andros frowned at him for a moment, but turned back to listening to Timrest before anyone else would have noticed his inattention. Zhane smirked, because he was willing to bet that Andros was not paying attention to Timrest now. He reached over slowly, pen extended. Andros reached over and grabbed the pen, but Zhane did not let go. They spent a while tugging the pen back and forth until someone cleared their throat.

Commander Eldrich was standing now, "When you're finished, Ranger Andros."

"My apologies, Commander," Andros replied, relinquishing the pen.

"Forgiven," Eldrich said with a slight bow.

Zhane tugged the pad of paper closer and began to idly draw the Astro Megaship.

"Dark Spector has made his move," Eldrich said, "and he is coming for KO-35, there can be no doubt."

"What do we do?" Timrest asked, sounding nervous.

"We start evacuating," Kinwon replied.

"People are going to panic," Andros said.

"You cannot use the Delta," Zhane said. Everyone looked at him, "You're going to need every ship you can to get people of KO-35, and you're going to draft every ship sitting empty. Earlier this morning, I released the Delta to the Blue Kerova Ranger, and she was commissioned as a battleship for Ranger use. As Rangers, we cannot and will not leave KO-35 undefended, but that means we are supposed to protect the people of KO-35 as much as the planet itself. By releasing the Delta to Ranger Jos, we have three operational battleships for use by the Kerova Rangers. That means that we can serve escort for evacuation groups without leaving KO-35 completely undefended."

"Is that the reason you wanted to come here?" Andros demanded.

"Well," Zhane said, "That and I needed to be here. There are things I need to witness, and some of them will be happening today."

"Why?" Kinwon asked.

"I cannot say." Zhane replied.

"Cannot or will not?" Councilor Bregan sneered. "I ask again why we allow these children."

Zhane slammed his hands on the table and amped up his aura, making everyone cry out at the blinding silver light. "I am a Power Ranger, Councilor Bregan," He said as he pulled back his aura, letting it remain visible as a silvery halo about his body. "I am a  _Silver_  Power Ranger, gifted and cursed with power that you cannot begin to imagine. Do you have any questions, Councilor?"

He glanced around the table, noting that Andros was practically invisible under his bright red aura. Kinwon had a mellower red aura with traces of green that drifted through his aura like leaves following the current in a stream. Commander Eldrich was a surprisingly strong gold, and from the rueful expression on his face, Zhane suspected that he had never actually mentioned his history with the Power. The other councilors had pale auras, visible for the most part only against the white walls of the council chamber. Bregan's aura, a pale and sickly white, was almost invisible.

Zhane sat down, allowing his aura to fade as he turned to Commander Eldrich. "Now, you were saying about evacuation plans?"


	8. Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: For Implied Under Age Sex. Yes, I know, fifteen and sixteen is far too long, but if you knew without a doubt, that the person you loved was going to die, wouldn't you want something to share that would mean something? Also, this Andros has only lost Karone, so he does joke around a bit. The ending is evil. You have been warned.

 

As Zhane and Andros arrived on the Megaship, Zhane forced himself not to hunch inward, he could practically  _feel_  Andros's anger radiating off him. Once the sparkles cleared, Andros glared at him, "Next time you get it in your head to piss off half the council, please let me know in advance?"

"I'm sorry," Zhane said, "I didn't think it would happen that way."

"Well, next time let me know," Andros said, "I could have gotten them to do the Defense report before the agricultural report. We would have been excused that much faster."

Zhane stared at him for a long moment before someone, Jos, cleared his throat, "So what happened?" Jos asked.

Zhane blinked and shook his head, "I had to channel the Ilan Rangers," he said, stepping away from Andros and glancing around the glider bay. Jos, Analyn, Loryn and Neverro were seated around the table with half eaten meals before them; clearly, they had been enjoying lunch without him or Andros. "One of the councilors was at his greatest moment of idiocy."

"What he means is that he flared his aura and shouted Breagan down," Andros added, "after point black telling them to keep their claws off the Delta."

"She's a Ranger ship," Jos said, sounding almost defensive, "They can't have her."

"I told you I gave her to Jos," Zhane said as he headed for the Synthatron. "It's not my fault you weren't paying attention."

"Paying," Andros blurted.

"You either weren't paying attention or you didn't believe me," Zhane said, punching in a meal code, "Give that you are my best friend and we swore never to lie to each other except on the occasion of good surprises and presents, I prefer to believe that you weren't paying attention."

"I will allow you that assumption," Andros said after a moment.

Zhane pulled out the tray from the Synthatron and held it out for Andros to take while he keyed in a second meal code. "What's the word from the meeting?" Neverro asked.

"Evacuations," Andros said, "we'll split to the battleships to escort them out. One of our ships will remain here until the planet is clear. Our duty to our planet and our people require as much."

Jos winced, "That's going to be tiring to pull off."

"Stay morphed," Zhane said, "we'll get the energy we need, even in stand-by. Those ship captains will respect you more with the clear reminder that we're Rangers and not just kids."

"Right," Andros said, "I suggest you take the time after lunch to make sure that Beta and Delta are ready for whatever they are called to do."

"I'm done," Jos said, "Analyn?"

Analyn smiled, "Let's go."

Zhane pretended he did not hear Andros grind his teeth. While Andros and Analyn had an on again off again relationship, Jos's crush on Analyn had become more obvious and those times with Analyn flirted with him always made Andros's temper a chancy thing.

"I need to get something from my room," Neverro said, standing up.

"I'll be right back," Zhane added. He followed Neverro to his bunk.

"What's wrong?" Neverro asked as soon as the door closed behind them.

Zhane bit his lip, "I can't- there's so much I can't tell you," he said finally. "But, something's going to happen to me."

"Zhane," Neverro said.

"I don't know what," Zhane said bitterly, "but I'm going to be gone for a while. I'll come back, I know that much, but it will be years." He looked into Neverro's eyes, hoping he would say the right things. "There's something I want, before that happens. Something we can give each other."

"Zhane," Neverro backed up.

"Not right now," Zhane said, "but I want to sleep with you, because I don't know how long I'm going to be gone, and no matter what changes by the time I get back, this will be ours. I'm not as ready as I wanted to be, but I don't think it can wait until I'm really ready." He let a single tear slip down his cheek. "Please?"

**mtwzhanemtwzhanemtw**

Zhane jerked out of the nightmare so violently that he threw himself out of bed with a hoarse scream. "Zhane?" Neverro asked.

Zhane turned, tears in his eyes, "I'm okay," he gasped.

"Was that," Neverro hesitated.

Zhane shook his head, "It was just a nightmare."

"Are you sure?" Neverro asked.

Zhane slid back into the bed, "I'm sure," he said. "It was," he hesitated for a moment, getting comfortable, "It was about when my mom died. It's a very old, very familiar, and very upsetting nightmare, but it was just a nightmare."

"If you're sure," Neverro said dubiously.

"I'm sure," Zhane said. He had dreamed of those days on the Delta often, and it always hit him differently. Tonight, he had dreamed his mother had opened the quarantine door as a corpse, and had tried to hug him. It was no wonder he had been moving so violently.

Just as Zhane closed his eyes, to try to reclaim so more sleep before they had to be up to escort more of the evacuation, the alarm went off with a high-pitched squeal and red lights began to pulse. He rolled out of bed and threw himself at his pants, hanging on a door. "DECA?" Neverro asked.

"A squad of dark fighters has entered the system," DECA replied, muting the alarm but allowing the red lights to continue flashing. "Andros orders the Delta and Beta into battle."

"That's me then," Neverro said as he buckled his black pants. He grabbed his black shirt and jacket while shoving his feet into his soft, shipside shoes. "DECA, teleport me to the Beta."

"Be careful," Zhane ordered him as he pulled on his own silver shirt.

"I will be," Neverro replied. "You look after Andros, hey?"

"Every time," Zhane said.

"Teleporting now," DECA said, and Neverro disappeared.

Zhane left his boots on the floor and ran for the bridge, shrugging his jacket on as he ran. Jos and Analyn stumbled out of their respective rooms as he passed and he heard DECA alert them to their teleportation as he entered the lift. He turned just as the last of their blue and pink teleportation streams vanished.

Andros was on the bridge when Zhane came in, fully dressed and his hair neatly brushed and braided. "Do you ever sleep?" Zhane demanded as he took his place beside his friend.

"I do," Andros said, "We have two dozen fighters approaching. If I steer, can you take care of our share?"

"Just get me in range," Zhane said. He could feel the engines beginning to power up to battle mode, the increased power causing a slight vibration in all the metal parts of the ship.

"Delta standing by," Jos announced over the com, "I have eyes on the enemy."

"Beta standing by," Loryn said in a strained tone, "we are ready to engage."

"Then let's do this as Rangers," Andros said as he lifted his morpher.

"Let's Rocket!" They called in unison.

Zhane shoved his awareness of his team to the back of his mind, calling up the weapons board and bracing himself for the coming battle.

 _This is not like the simulations,_  Zhane thought as he started firing on the fighters. The only way they could have simulated this would have been to fire on each other, and none of them had been prepared to risk damaging KO-35's strongest defense.

It was not firing on the quantron piloted fighters that bothered him, no. It was the fact that sometimes Andros threw the Megaship around as if it was a single man fighter, leaving Zhane to grab whatever he could to keep his feet and continue firing.

"Do you mind?" Zhane grunted when one maneuver by Andros left him on the floor. "That doesn't tickle."

The fact that Andros still had not fallen did not help Zhane's mood.

"Not really," Andros said, sounding absurdly cheerful. "And if you'd put your helmet back on, it wouldn't hurt as much. Not that your hard head would tell the difference."

Zhane glanced at his friend and growled as he resumed his attempts to deal with one particularly persistent fighter. "Of course this is something you'd like," he grumbled.

"Aw, lighten up, Zhane," Andros said, "we're  _winning."_

 _We're winning._  For a moment, Zhane forgot to breathe, then a shot from a quantron made the ship shake and he was back in the moment. In the back of his mind, a glimpse from a memory unfolded and he knew what was going to happen. His hand hovered over the firing button as the computer indicated a target lock, then, almost without his conscious concern, he hit that button.

Lasers streaked through space to strike the fighter, hitting it just ahead of the engines.

The fighter began to spin.

Andros jerked the controls to get the Megaship out of the way, and she responded slowly, too slowly.

The fighter hit the Megaship's shields and exploded.

The Megaship quivered, and then began to shake, and finally, a boom echoed throughout the ship, along with the alarms for an atmospheric breach.

Zhane felt himself tossed in the air as the Megaship jerked, seeming to drop out from underneath him. He twisted, and collided with the forward control panels with his shoulder. There was a brief moment where he saw Andros soaring through the air, looking as if he had spontaneously achieved flight on his own, then there was a sharp pain to the back of his head and then there was only blackness.


	9. Falling Stars

There was something wrong.  Zhane wasn’t exactly sure what it was at first, he just knew that something didn’t feel right.  He held himself still, trying to pay attention to his surroundings without opening his eyes.

The first thing he noticed as that his bed was harder than normal, and there didn’t feel like more than one pillow.  Zhane twitched his hand and felt the cover over him.  Unlike the thick, hand woven blanket Zhane had clung to from before his mother died, this was thinner and coarser.

“Is he awake?”  Jos asked suddenly.

“Not just yet,” Andros replied in a hoarse voice.  “I told him to wear his helmet.”

“It’s not your fault,” Analyn said.  “Nothing that happened was your fault.”

“Happened?”  Zhane said, or tried to say.  His tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of his mouth and tangled itself over the word.

“Zhane?”  Andros said.

Zhane opened his eyes and jerked back, Andros was leaning over to look at him.  “What?”  Zhane asked.

“You’re awake,” Analyn said, coming into view as Andros pulled back.  Her eyes were red rimmed and her face pale.  “I’m glad you’re ok.”

“What happened?”  Zhane asked, trying to look around.  It took a moment, but Zhane realized he was in the medbay on the Astro Megaship.

“You need to eat something,” Jos said, “I’ll go get a tray.”

Analyn settled on the foot of the bed with a tentative smile as Andros held a scanner over Zhane.

“Andros,” Zhane said, “what happened?”  He leaned his head up to look around the room, “Where’s Neverro?”

Andros lowered the scanner to rest on Zhane’s shoulder, “Zhane,” he said, “you’ve been unconscious for days.  Give us some time to make sure you’re okay.”  He lifted the scanner, “I’m going to sit your bed up.”

“Days?”  Zhane asked, looking from Andros to Analyn as the head of his bed began to rise.

“Days,” Analyn said, patting his ankle.  “You hit your head very hard, you cracked your skull.  We thought we’d have to send you down to the med center if you didn’t wake up soon.”

“Oh,” Zhane said.

“Here,” Jos said, “ _laytrin_ soup.”

“Thanks,” Zhane said as Jos slid the tray onto a bedside table and pushed it over Zhane’s lap.

“Mom made it for you,” Jos said, “We’ve been keeping it warm for you.”

“That’s great,” Zhane said as he reached for the spoon.  His hand was shaking so hard he could barely pick up his spoon, and he definitely couldn’t keep any soup on the spoon.  “What’s wrong with me?”  He asked, looking at Andros.

“You’re still healing,” Andros said, not looking up from the scanner.  “You should be completely well sometime in the next few hours, but your body isn’t one hundred percent right now.”

“Here,” Analyn scooted closer, “let me help you.”

“I’d rather wait for Neverro,” Zhane replied, “is he coming?  I would have thought he wouldn’t be too far away.”

Andros cleared his throat, “Jos, Analyn, give us a moment?”

Jos slung his arm over Analyn’s shoulders and steered her out of the room.  Analyn glanced back once, tears sliding down her cheeks.

“Andros?”  Zhane asked, dreading what Andros was going to tell him.

Andros took a deep breath and moved the table away from Zhane.  “You’ve been unconscious for days, Zhane.  We couldn’t very well make our escort run with you in the infirmary.”

“Escort run?”  Zhane repeated.

“We had guard duty for the last group of evacuees,” Andros said, “remember?”

“No,” Zhane admitted.  He closed his eyes for a minute, “Andros, _what happened to me?”_

“What’s the last thing you remember?”  Andros asked gently.

“We had a team meeting about what we needed to do if Dark Spector came for KO-35.  We talked about what I needed to do with Delta, and Jos swore he’d take care of her.  I’d been having horrible nightmares, and I was going to go into the Grid to find out what was going on.”  Zhane said.  “I meant to do it tonight, or a few nights ago, I guess.”

“That was three weeks ago,” Andros said, “We’ve been guarding evacuation convoys for that long.  I think you did go into the Grid; you were upset for days before things started getting busy.  I do know you and Neverro became a lot closer after you went into the Grid.”

“I don’t remember,” Zhane said softly, “why would I do that?”

“You couldn’t tell us,” Andros said, “you told me it was the price for learning what was happening.”  He settled on the edge of Zhane’s bed.

“Is that where Neverro is?  Escorting some evacuees?”  Zhane asked.  Surely, Neverro could explain to him what had happened.

Andros took a deep breath, “Zhane, four days ago Dark Spector sent quantron fighters to KO-35 and we took the battleships to defend the system.  During the fight, a fighter crashed into the Megaship causing a hull breach and making the gravity generators become unstable.  The jolt of the explosion combined with the gravity instability is what caused your injuries.  The Megaship isn’t fully repaired, the gravity fluctuates more than is normal, so Neverro and Loryn took our evacuation run yesterday.”

A heavy sense of foreboding made Zhane start to shake his head, wanting deny what he knew Andros was about to tell him.

“The convoy was ambushed,” Andros continued slowly, “and…”

Zhane became aware of the fact that he was whining.

“I’m sorry,” Andros said softly.

“Their morphers?”  Zhane asked.

“They returned to the bridge of the Astro Megaship yesterday,” Andros replied, “before we even knew something was wrong.”  Zhane shook his head again, eyes blurring and stinging before tears began to fall.  Andros pulled him into a hug, clinging to him as tightly as Zhane tried to cling to Andros.

Zhane wasn’t sure how long he cried, wrapped in Andros’s strong embrace, but eventually the tears ended, even if his grief had not yet run its course.

“Andros?”  Jos said, “I’m sorry, but we just heard from Kinwon.  The convoy’s ready.”

Zhane pulled back to stare at the hovering blue ranger, “What?”  He asked.

Jos tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace, “It’s the last convoy,” he explained, “except for the councilors and the last of the defense forces.  We promised them that Delta would be ready to go.”

“Right,” Andros said as he let Zhane lean back.  “You two should go, and take care of each other.  We’ll be waiting here for you.”

“We’ll be careful,” Jos said.  He glanced up, “DECA, please teleport me to the Delta Megaship.”

“Teleporting now,” DECA replied.

Jos vanished into a burst of blue.

“What do we do now?”  Zhane asked, and winced at how childlike he sounded.

“You rest,” Andros said, “unless you have to morph, rest is the best way to make sure you heal.  I’m going to go talk to Master Garnar about the gravity generator before it flattens us both.”  He paused as he stood up, “Again.”

Zhane waited until the door closed.  “DECA,” he said, “did, did Neverro leave me anything?”

“There is a recording,” DECA replied.

“Can I,” Zhane hesitated, “May I hear it?”

“There is a visual component,” DECA replied, “and there is a tablet on the table to your left.”

Zhane fumbled the tablet into his lap and sat staring at the blank screen.  Suddenly, the screen went black before revealing Neverro, looking tired and apprehensive.

“Hey love,” Neverro said with a little smile.  “I hope you never have to see this, but I wanted to leave you something, just in case.”  He looked away for a moment, then back at the camera, “The day you asked me for sex, I wondered if you knew I would die.  I know you insisted that it was because you would have to ‘go away’ as you put it, but there was such pain in your eyes.  I hope that you didn’t know how we died, not because you didn’t tell us, but because you don’t deserve to be in that much pain.

“I’m sorry that I’m not going to be there when you wake up from your injuries.  Jos promised he’d get his mom to make _laytrin_ soup.  If he didn’t, feel free to beat him up for me.”  Zhane smiled for a moment.  “Zhane, no matter how I died, I want you to know that there is nothing about knowing you that I regret.  You are the most wonderful, most caring man I have known, even when you’re at your most annoying, you act as you do _because_ you care.  I know that, even if no one else does.  That’s why I’m going to ask of you something that may feel impossible right now.”  Zhane frowned, wondering what Neverro would have to say.

“Don’t be alone Zhane.  Don’t be afraid to mourn me, because that is who you are, but don’t be alone.  You have so much love in you, and you deserve to _be_ loved.  You aren’t cursed, you aren’t forsaken, and my death is not your fault any more than your mother’s was.  Take the time to mourn, but also, take the time to live.  I don’t know if we were forever or if we were just until tomorrow, but I love you, and I died loving you, and maybe that doesn’t give me the right, but I’m asking for you to live for me.  The world will be a poor place without you in it, and I don’t want to see you in the Grid for a very long time.”

Zhane closed his eyes as the tears streamed down his face.

MTWZHANEMTWZHANEMTW

Zhane must have dozed off, because the alarms jerked him awake.  He vaguely heard the clatter of the tablet falling to the floor as he fought his way out of the blanket.  “DECA, what’s going on?”  He demanded.

“A battleship has entered Kerova space,” DECA announced, “I am detecting Quantrons and monsters on the surface.”  She paused, “Andros says you must morph and help him, there are still civilians awaiting evacuation on the surface.”

“I’m on my way,” Zhane replied as he stumbled out of bed.  There was a lance of pain as he stepped on the broken tablet, but he ignored it as he grabbed his Digimorpher from the bedside table.  “Let’s rocket!”  He shouted and half-closed his eyes against the silver light.

“Teleporting,” DECA said as the light cleared.

When Zhane could fully see again, he was in Memorial Square, now just a clearing in a pile of rubble.  Andros was fighting a group of Quantrons nearby.  “Andros,” Zhane said as the Super Silverizer formed on his arm.

“Good to see you back,” Andros said, almost panting.

Zhane lunged forward to block a Quantron.  “Have you heard anything from Jos and Analyn?”  He asked as he drove back the Quantrons.

“They’re still in transit,” Andros replied, “they won’t make it to the evacuation site and back in time to help.  We have to buy time to get the last ship loaded.”

“We can do that,” Zhane said, “together.”

The world narrowed to feints, thrusts, blocks, and the occasional blaster shot.  No matter how many Quantrons they knocked down, more kept coming.  Zhane kept a small part of his attention on Andros even as he dealt with the Quantrons came at him.

“This one’s mine,” Andros shouted, startling Zhane.  Zhane turned to watch as Andros charged a monster, then turned to take out a rather persistent Quantron.

The next time he looked at Andros, the Red Ranger was falling to the ground, the sparks from an overloaded suit surrounding him like a mockery of a Power aura.

“No!”  Zhane shouted.  He threw himself at the monster, pulling all of the Silver Power he possessed into himself, releasing it as he tackled the monster and destroying it as part of the overload explosion.  He felt himself being lifted into the air from the force of the explosion, then something hit his hips, flipped him over, and slammed him down.  The bright red spot in his mind that said _Andros_ like nothing else could burned bright against the darkness.

Zhane surrendered to the darkness, secure in the knowledge that at least one person he loved was still alive.


	10. Interlude in a Dream

Andros stumbled through a coniferous forest, pushing aside branches from the younger trees as he moved.  He could hear familiar laughter ahead of him, which drew him on even as something in his mind warned him to be careful.

“Zhane, I’m going to kill you!”  Loryn shrieked as Andros stumbled out of the trees.

The yellow ranger was storming out of a pond, dripping water and with a string of waterweed perched on her head.

Zhane was ducked behind Neverro, clutching his stomach as he laughed.  “You said you needed to cool off,” he gasped out between bursts of laughter.

Neverro looked at the advancing Loryn, then at Zhane and pointedly stepped aside, “For the record, you brought this on yourself.”

“What?”  Zhane asked, he gasped his chest and trying to look horrified even as he couldn’t stop grinning, “Betrayal!”

“Maybe Andros will save you,” Jos called as he came up beside Andros.  “You’re late, kid.  Analyn was advocating we start the picnic without you.”

“Picnic?”  Andros asked, confused.

“Yeah, picnic,” Analyn said, popping up on his other side and kissing his cheek.  “Zhane brought the good stuff.”

“Andros, save me!”  Zhane shouted as he sprinted across the clearing.  He grabbed Andros’s shoulder, push-pulled him forward and ducked behind him.

“Really?”  Andros asked, unable to stop the smile as he looked over his shoulder.

“She’s going to kill me this time,” Zhane said.

Jos and Analyn moved away as Loryn approached, still dripping from her time in the pond.  “Do you protect him?”  Loryn asked.

Andros tilted his head a little, feeling Zhane clutch his arm.  “Are you going to kill and or maim him?”

“Only if he struggles,” Loryn said.

“Then no,” Andros freed his arm.  He grinned at Zhane, “You deserve this.”  Then he gripped Zhane’s shoulder before his friend could run.  “Keep the bleeding to a minimum, Loryn, please.”

“Yes sir,” Loryn said as she latched on to Zhane and started back across the clearing.

Zhane dug his heels in, howling as Loryn approached the pond, aiming for a rocky ledge that lifted above the water.

“He won’t get hurt will he?”  Andros asked as Jos rejoined him.

“No,” Jos said, “it’s deep around the rock, and you know Loryn will push him hard enough he won’t scrap the side on the way down.”

Loryn had Zhane on the rock, and had let go to give him a push when Zhane stopped yelling, turned, and leaped off the cliff.

“Zhane!”  Loryn howled.

Zhane laughed as he backstroked away from the rock, “You were going to push me in anyways, Loryn!  What are you so mad about?”

“I don’t think you were supposed to jump,” Neverro said as he came up beside Loryn.  “You were supposed to be pushed.”

“But I wanted to jump,” Zhane said, “I just didn’t want Loryn to kill me.”

“I’m really thinking about it,” Loryn promised him.

“Enough,” Andros said.  He would have continued but a loud crashing noise from across the clearing preceded a human running into the clearing chased by a giant spider.  As the human tripped and fell, the spider vanished in green and black sparkles.

“What was that?”  Jos said.

“How did that disappear?”  Andros demanded.

“Uh oh,” Zhane said as he climbed out of the pool.

“Zhane?”  Andros said.

“Zhane?”  The human said sitting up.

“Carlos,” Zhane said as he left the pond, “Hi!  How are you?”

“Let’s see,” Carlos said, “I’m in a coma at the hospital practicing my astral projections like _you_ taught me and then I’m here, in a decidedly solid body, and you can _not_ believe how weird that is, being chased by a giant spider.  What the hell is going on and where the hell am I?”

“This is the Grid,” Zhane said after a long moment, glancing over at Andros.

Andros stumbled back as the memories hit.  The notice of Loryn and Neverro’s death, finding Jos and Analyn’s morphers on the bridge.  Zhane in stasis so he could heal, hidden off the engine room.  “Zhane,” he said, unable to keep from hating how needy he sounded.

“It’s okay,” Zhane said, “its okay.  I brought you here while you were sleeping so you could see us all.”  They were all staring at Andros as Zhane approached him.  “We always say we can find each other here, remember?”

Andros threw himself at Zhane, hugging him with all of his strength.  Zhane stroked his head, holding him just as tightly.

“What is going on?”  Carlos asked, “What’s the Grid?”

“This is the place where the Power Rangers get their power,” Zhane said as he cautiously released Andros.  “The spirits of Rangers who have passed on reside here until they’re ready to fight again, or their teammates catch up, and living Rangers come here for advice, guidance, and to strengthen their powers.  These are my teammates, Jos, Analyn, Neverro, and Loryn, who were lost to us, and Andros, who is still fighting.  Andros, this is Carlos of Earth.  He’s like me, unconscious and injured.  I think he’ll be a Ranger in the future, he’s got all the potential for it.”

“He will,” Neverro said, startling Andros.  He’d forgotten the others were watching the exchange even as he leaned into Zhane more.  “I may not be able to see auras like you, Zhane, but I can tell a fellow Black Ranger when I meet them.”

“Green and Black,” Zhane said.  “He’s got the strength for both.”

An alarm ripped through the dream, jerking Andros awake.  “What?”  He asked.

“Sedren is requesting aid,” DECA said as Andros rolled out of bed and pulled his boots on.

“Set a course for Sedren,” Andros ordered as he pulled on his jacket and ran for his door.  “Let them know we’re coming.”

An idyllic day in the woods was nice enough in peacetime, Andros thought as he entered the lift.  This was a day of war.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Andros stared at the Rangers as he ran for them, hoping he wasn’t about to get shot for his efforts.  He’d thought there was something familiar about them, but it hadn’t been until he was reaching for the black morpher that he had a flicker of memory.  A day in the woods, laughing with his teammates, and a kid chased by a giant spider.

Andros dumped the black morpher in the green ranger’s hands and hoped that Neverro was right about his successor.

“Let’s Rocket!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a not-dream from Andros's pov, just because I wanted some fun with the Kerova Astros before I moved on to the next part. Carlos crashing the party was not exactly planned until it happened. I originally was going to have Andros forget the dream, but then I decided I wanted him to remember. It will be somewhat important later on.


	11. Two Years

There was no dust in his room.  Zhane wasn’t sure why that surprised him, the megaship was a closed, clean environment, designed to filter out allergens and other health risks.  He just thought that his room would become a shadowed, dusty place, haunted by Neverro’s voice and his own laugh.  Instead, it looked as if Andros had cleaned it up, making the bed and cleaning his dirty clothes.  Zhane left the door open to his room, unwilling to risk the feeling of the walls falling in on him.

As he explored the room, Zhane trailed his fingers over different surfaces, felling the thick blanket his mom had made him, the small collection of treasures in their clear display box.  It was a hundred different reminders of a fifteen-year-old boy.

Zhane sighed as he came across the small dressing table in the corner with its mirror.  He stared at his image for a long moment, noting that he looked thinner than before, as if the narrow tube of the cryo chamber had made him narrower as well.  He looked at his hair, silver-white instead of brown, a side effect of having been in the suit for so long.  Finally, for less than a moment, he saw his eyes.  They were grey, not the dark brown they’d once been.  There was nothing in that mirror to remind him of Zhane of KO-35, son of Katanya of Ilan.

There was an almighty crash and broken glass fell around his fist.  Zhane had punched the mirror before he even realized the thought existed.

“Zhane?”  Andros asked.  “Oh, Zhane.”  Andros wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him back.

“Andros?”  One of the girls asked.

“Go,” Andros said, “I’ve got this.”

“But,” the girl began.

“Ash,” one of the boys said, “back off.”

Zhane closed his eyes and allowed Andros to steer him to the bunk, “What happened?”  Andros asked as he began to study Zhane’s hand.

“It wasn’t me,” Zhane said hoarsely, opening his eyes to watch as Andros flexed his fingers.  “That wasn’t me in the mirror.”

“Let’s get this cleaned up,” Andros said, “we’ll need to go down to the infirmary.”

Zhane nodded and allowed Andros to pull him up, leaning into his friend as his hand began to hurt.  “I’m sorry,” Zhane whispered.

“You don’t have to be,” Andros replied as he urged Zhane to move forward.  They left the room and Zhane glanced up for a brief moment.  Pink was half leaning out her door, concerned and nervous.  Blue was actively holding onto Yellow, both of them looked half-afraid as they stood there.  Zhane turned towards the lift, where Black was standing.  Black caught his eyes for a long moment, and Zhane felt a flicker recognition inside him, then Black ducked his head and moved out of the way.  “Come on,” Andros said softly.

The infirmary was a lot like Zhane remembered, the only difference being a brightly colored box left on its side on one of the bed with rectangular sheets of paper scattered around it.  Andros sighed as he saw the box, “Ashley must not have been down here.”

Ashley.  Yellow.

Zhane closed his eyes as he sat down on one of the beds.  “There is still some glass in your hand,” Andros said after a moment, “I’m going to have to pull it out before it heals.”

Zhane nodded.

“Why don’t you lie back, because I don’t know how long this is going to take?”  Andros urged him.

Zhane shifted on the bed, feeling it rise up so that he was at an angle before Andros put his hand on an armrest.  There was a cold sensation and Zhane opened one eye before he realized Andros was cleaning his knuckles with a cream that soon turned his hand numb.  Zhane closed his eyes again and began to take deep, meditation style breaths.

“I know it feels like a lot has changed,” Andros said quietly, “but its okay.  I’m still me and you’re still you, we’re still the greatest friendship there ever was.  I know it must be hard to think of new Astros, but if you give them a chance.”  He paused for a moment.  “TJ, Blue, he’s a good second.  He’s good-natured and friendly, not like Jos.  Ashley, yellow, she’s an amazing Yellow.  She says that she does what’s needed as it’s needed, which makes it hard to know her healing style, but I think she’s all three.  Cassie, Pink, she’s nothing like Loryn.  She’s a little hard to get to know, but once she knows you, she’ll be with you until the end of time.  I know he’s not Neverro, but I think you’ll like Carlos when you get to know him.  He used to be Green, but he seems to have adjusted well.”

Zhane gasped as silver light flooded his brain, “The Blue was lost but not forever,” he groaned.

“What?”  Andros asked.

“What?”  Zhane said, looking at Andros.

“You said ‘the Blue was lost but not forever’,” Andros said.

Zhane shook his head, “I don’t remember that.  So these four, they had a team before.”

Andros frowned, “They did.  Zhane, I did something.”  He hesitated, staring at Zhane’s hand.  “I did something wrong.”

“We can fix it,” Zhane said.

“Not this,” Andros said.  “I thought… before we met, they were the Turbo Rangers of Earth.  They had a different blue ranger.  They didn’t have him when we met and they didn’t say…  I thought he was dead.”

Zhane reached with his good hand to grip his friend’s arm, _“Halidenari?”_

Andros nodded slowly.

Zhane closed his eyes, “Oh Andros.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Andros said, “I thought he was dead.”

“Is he okay?”  Zhane asked.

“We met him a few weeks ago,” Andros said, “he seemed all right… but I don’t know him, not the way the others do.”

“We’ll have to track him down again,” Zhane said, “make sure he’s okay.”  He squeezed Andros’s arm, “We won’t let them forget Justin, yeah?”

Andros stared at Zhane for a moment, and then looked back at his hand, “I think I’ve gotten all the glass.  DECA?”

“I detect no more fragments,” DECA announced.

“Then we’ll bandage this and I’ll see about cleaning up your room,” Andros said as he jumped up and headed to one of the cabinets, “I was bringing you a new uniform.”

“I wanted to ask you about that,” Zhane said, “why did you change?”

Andros gave Zhane a quick, shaky smile.  “Because after I got Analyn and Jos’s morphers’ back, I punched a mirror too.  I couldn’t look at myself in their uniform, and then Kartai gave me these.  He said it would help.”

Zhane tugged his jacket thoughtfully, “I’ll keep mine, if you don’t mind.  I don’t want to forget them.”

“All right,” Andros said.  “You’ll give Ashley, and the others, a chance right?”

“Of course,” Zhane said, “if you like her, them, they’re worth knowing.”

This time, Andros’s smile was neither quick nor shaky.  Zhane thought it was a good sign.


	12. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I brought a lot of things together in this chapter that I've mentioned or hinted to previously. I hope I've managed to explain most of my decisions as I went.

From everything, Zhane had heard about Justin Stewart, he’d expected another teenager, probably a little younger than the other Astros.  A sturdy fourteen year old with a stubborn chin and hard blue eyes had been the furthest thing from his mind, but Zhane had to admit, he could understand why this Ranger had chosen his family over space.

“Hey Justin,” TJ said, “ready to go?”

Justin smiled a little, “Yeah, I’m ready.”  He slipped out the door and locked it.

“Justin, this is Zhane,” TJ said as Justin and Zhane studied each other, “he was Andros’s teammate, before us.”

Zhane smiled, “I was in a coma actually.  I just woke up.”

Justin nodded a little, “Nice to meet you, Zhane.  Are you fighting with the Astros now?”

“For now,” Zhane said.  “It’s kind of my job, you know.  Now, I understand you’re supposed to be introducing me to Chuck E’ Cheeses?”

“Yup,” Justin said, thawing a bit.

TJ gestured, “Lightning Cruiser awaits.”

Zhane waited while TJ walked away, and then touched Justin’s shoulder, “Hey, I promise.  I’ll keep the team, _our team,_  safe.  When you’re ready, if you want to, I’ll even help you come back.”

“But you already have a Blue Ranger,” Justin said.

“Then it’s a good thing there are other Ranger colors,” Zhane replied.  He stepped away, suddenly knowing in his gut that Justin would never come back as a Ranger.  He couldn’t  _see_  it, but he could feel a different future plotted out for this young man.

“Let’s go,” TJ called.

“Coming,” Zhane and Justin called back in unison.

TJ stared at them as they approached.

“What?”  Zhane asked.

“I know we all said you and Justin were a lot alike, but actually seeing you together is a bit unnerving,” TJ said.  He tapped Lightning Cruiser and the doors swung open.

“I’ll ride in back,” Zhane said, “the birthday boy should sit up front.”

“I have shorter legs than you,” Justin argued.

“But you’re the birthday boy,” Zhane said and slid into the backseat.  “Now you have two options.  Option one is that you climb back here and we pretend TJ is our driver, and option two is you sit in front and enjoy the privilege.”

“I think I’ll enjoy the privilege,” Justin said, sliding into the front seat.

“Are you sure you’re not related?”  TJ asked as Lightning Cruiser pulled away from the curb.

“We might be,” Zhane said, “My dad was from Earth after all, it’s how I ended up on KO-35 in the first place.”

“What does that mean?”  Justin asked.

“My mother’s Ilandrian, from the planet Ilan.  They’re purity fanatics, they don’t believe in cross species breeding.  I mean an Eltarean would be acceptable for the  _lower classes_ , but the Ranger Lines like my mother’s family, they only marry other Ilandrians.  My mother came to Earth to meet with Zordon, but was attacked by bounty hunters and driven off course.  An Earthian man found her crashed ship and helped her get to Zordon.  Along the way, they got drunk and events came to a foregone conclusion.  Since I’m half-human, my Ilandrian family chose to pay for my mother’s ship to be stored on KO-35 while I was in a group home rather than allowing me into their home.  After I became Silver, they tried to contact me, but I won’t speak to them because my Ranger color shouldn’t matter more than my blood.”

“Have you ever met your father?”  Justin asked.

“No,” Zhane said, “I grew up on KO-35, then I became Silver and fought with the Kerova Astros, got hurt and I’ve spent the last two years in a coma.  I think I got my personality from him though, what I remember about my mother is that she was more constrained than I was.  She always held back, and Uncle Kartai told me once that Mother was considered  _passionate_  for an Ilandrian.”

“So you’re Spock,” Justin said after a moment.

“I’m sorry?”  Zhane asked.

“You’re Spock, half-human, half-Ilandrian, which isn’t Vulcan exactly, but you make it sound like they’re very formal and logical, which Vulcans are that way.”  Justin grinned as he turned to look at Zhane.

“What is a Vulcan?”  Zhane asked.

“It’s from a TV show,” TJ said, “Star Trek.  It’s about the future of mankind and how we traveled into space and met aliens.”

“Space,” Justin said in a deep, solemn voice, “The final frontier.”

TJ chuckled before joining in, “These are the voyages of the starship  _Enterprise,_  its five year mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life forms and new civilizations.  To boldly go where no man has gone before.”

“Ok,” Zhane said with a laugh, “sounds interesting.”

“We can find it later to show you,” TJ said.

“All right,” Zhane said, “now Justin, I have a question for you.”

“Sure,” Justin said.

“I was told your birthday was a while ago, but you’re celebrating it today.  Why?”  Zhane said.

“I was born on a holiday,” Justin said after a moment, “It’s called Valentine’s Day.  It’s about love, usually romantic.  We consider red, white, and pink to be romantic colors, and pink especially is considered feminine.”

“Which is weird,” Zhane said, “I personally knew four male pink rangers.  They were compassionate and caring men, but not feminine.”

“Eh, it’s Earth,” Justin said, “It’s not supposed to make sense.  Anyways, when I was a kid, we used to throw these huge parties on Valentine’s Day, give each other little cards, with lots of cupcakes and candy.  Nobody cared it was my birthday at school, I didn’t get to bring cupcakes and have a little party like some of the other kids.  When I was six, my mom suggested we throw a party in summer, a  _un-_ birthday party, so I could have my friends do fun stuff like the water park.  After a few years, people forgot my actual birthday was in February on Valentine’s Day, and just celebrated it in the summer.  We just dropped the ‘un’ part.  I turned fourteen back then, but I’m celebrating today.”

“Justin,” TJ said, sounded a bit choked, “Valentine’s Day, that’s when…”

“Yup,” Justin said, “I’ve always wanted an explosive birthday party.”

“What?”  Zhane asked.

“The Power Chamber, our old headquarters, blew up on my birthday,” Justin said, “thus another reason to continue my summer un-birthday party.”

Justin looked to towards Zhane, bright grin lighting up his brown eyes.  For a moment, Zhane felt like he’d been gut punched, because he  _knew that smile._   It was the same smile Zhane saw in the mirror whenever he could bring himself to look, right down to the pain that lurked in the depths of his eyes.

“We’re here,” TJ announced.  “Everyone else is waiting.”

“Cool,” Justin said.  He scrambled out the car and flipped the seat, “I’ll see you inside.”

Zhane watched Justin run towards the entrance while TJ sighed, “Petition to remove Justin’s name from the universe’s shit list,” TJ said.

“Seconded,” Zhane replied.

“I still have to tell him about being  _halidenari,”_  TJ said.  “I hope he doesn’t kill us over that.”

“He won’t,” Zhane said quietly.

………

Zhane found the arcade and restaurant to be as exciting as the team had promised.  Although Andros had to be cajoled into trying things at first, when Carlos showed him the shooting games, Andros really got into it.  Zhane found himself agreeing to play the games that required two people with each of his teammates in turn, although he liked the driving games best.

“You’re never driving on Earth,” TJ informed him after watching Zhane drive his car off the road again.

“It’s a game,” Zhane said.  “I’m a great driver.”

“Funny,” Andros said, leaning over the other side of Zhane’s game, “which of us is banned from flying any of the megaships?”

“Not I,” Zhane said, “Delta’s mine.  You’re the one who got banned from Beta.”

“It was an exercise,” Andros said, “It was a logical defensive maneuver.”

“How is Astro even intact if you still think ramming the enemy is a logical defensive maneuver?”  Zhane asked as threw his body to the side, willing the car to make the turn without hitting the wall.

“It hasn’t come up,” Andros said.

“I bet DECA won’t let you,” Zhane said as he shot into first place.  “She’s got a self-preservation instinct.”

“I do too,” Andros said.

“No you don’t,” Zhane retorted.  “You just don’t have a death wish.  I’ve known you for eight years, Andros.  There’s a difference between not wanting to die and not wanting to live.”

“Well,” Andros said as Zhane crossed the finish line, “I’ve known you for ten, and we both know you’ve always had a bigger martyr complex than I ever did.”

Zhane grinned at his friend, “Red.”

“Silver,” Andros replied with an equal grin.

Zhane glanced at TJ, who looked uncomfortable, “I have to deflate his ego on a regular basis.  He’s unlivable and broody if I don’t.”

“I don’t have an ego,” Andros said, “that’s all on you.  Remember, we voted on it.”

“You rigged the vote,” Zhane said.

“No I didn’t,” Andros said.  Zhane grinned, seeing Andros widen his eyes slightly, giving him a younger, more innocent expression.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  Quinn Starreader totally called in a vote for you.”

“She’s a character in a holovid, Andros, she’s not legally allowed to vote on any planet,” Zhane said as he slid out of the game.  “Shouldn’t you be shooting aliens or something?”

“Something,” Andros said, “Justin wants to do pizza and cake.”

“Food,” Zhane said, he slapped Andros’s arm, “not it.”  Then he ran away.

Andros laughed and chased after him, ducking around some younger kids as he went.

………

After the party, they went to the local park.  “This was a good day,” Justin said.

“Shame your dad couldn’t make it,” TJ said.

“He had to work,” Justin said, “he was happy you guys were coming to see me though.”

“Yeah,” TJ said, “about that.”  He looked at the others, “There’s something else we need to tell you.  Justin, we did something really bad to you.  None of us knew, it was an accident.”

“What did you do?”  Justin asked.

“We broke the Turbo team,” TJ said, “When Andros gave us the Astro morphers, the Turbo team was broken.”

“What do you mean?”  Justin said.

Zhane cleared his throat, “Have you ever heard the analogy that the Power is a river?”  He asked.

“The morphers are like a dam, right?”  Justin asked.

“Yes,” Zhane said.  “Usually when teams switch up, the Rangers, who could be the floodgates in our analogy, they can be replaced, or even closed to be opened later.  Sometimes, however, the power transfer is done wrong.  When that happens, the power can’t get through the closed floodgates ever again.  Only the remaining open floodgate can channel the power.  It’s called  _halidenari._   Usually there’s a person overseeing the transfer to prevent that, but when the Turbo team became the Astros there wasn’t an overseer.  Andros didn’t know you were alive, given how badly the others looked, he assumed without asking, and TJ and the others didn’t know it made a difference.”

“What are you saying?”  Justin asked.

“That there’s no more Turbo team,” Cassie said brokenly, “there’s only you.  You’re the only real Turbo Ranger left.”

“You’re still a Ranger,” Zhane said quickly, “and there’s a way for you to join a different team, but there’s a price.”

“Of course there is,” Justin said bitterly.  He stepped back, “Just leave me alone.”  He turned and ran towards the lake in the middle of the park.

“I’ll go after him,” Zhane said quickly.

“Zhane,” Ashley said.

“I know how he feels,” Zhane said.  Ignoring their cries, Zhane raced after Justin, finding the other Ranger sitting on a rock overlooking the lake.  “I’m sorry,” he said as he approached.

“It’s not your fault,” Justin said after a minute.

Zhane sat down beside Justin and stared at the water, “At least they’re not dead.”

“What?”  Justin asked.

“I woke up, and Andros is the only member of my team still alive.”  Zhane said.

They were quiet for a long moment.

"I didn't know what it meant, but I could tell things were different," Justin said quietly as he stared out over the water.  "I've just felt so alone, even with other people."

Zhane nodded, "It's not the same, I know.  The power still exists and all, but I don't know any of them.  Sometimes, I think I don't even know Andros anymore."

"What was he like?  I kind of thought he was always broody."

"Oh he was," Zhane laughed, "we promised once that I'd talk more if he brooded less."  He looked down at his hands, "I guess I was better at keeping that promise than he did.  He used to joke though, and he liked pranks no matter what he said.  He was a good straight man, and even better with deadpan humor."

"I think I would have liked to meet Andros at fifteen."  Justin said after a moment.

"He is," Zhane began, and then his brain caught up with his mouth.  "Sorry.  It's hard to remember."

"It's okay," Justin said.  "It wasn't so bad last year, when we were Turbos and they were just a grade ahead of me.  Now that they set up correspondence classes and 'travel', TJ and the others, it's like they're suddenly aware that there's at best a four year gap in age, and they treat me that way.  You don't, and I like that."

"I don't think of myself as seventeen either," Zhane said, "Six months ago, I turned fifteen.  We had a party and Neverro and I kissed."  He swallowed a little, remembering the look on Neverro's face when they'd been alone.

Justin leaned into him with a sigh, "I won't tell them if you don't want me to, but its okay to still think of yourself as fifteen."

Zhane wrapped his arm around Justin's shoulders.  "Maybe just for a little while."

Justin leaned into Zhane for a long moment before his watch beeped, “My dad should be home soon,” he said, “you should come meet him.  I think he’d like you.”

“Yeah?”  Zhane said, “I think I’d like that.”

“It’s just on the other side of the pond,” Justin said, “that’s why I said we should come back here.”

“I’ll walk you home then,” Zhane said.  He triggered his communicator, “Hey Andros?”

“Zhane?”  Andros said after a moment.

“I’m going to walk Justin home and meet his dad.  I’ll be back to the megaship later.”

“Okay,” Andros said, “take care.”

“You know it,” Zhane said cheerfully before closing the connection.  “Let’s go then.”

The walk was quiet, as if their quiet confessions had made the need to speak superfluous.  In a way, it reminded Zhane of being in the home with Andros.  They’d had days where they never spoke to each other, regardless of being within arm’s reach most of the time.  They’d passed things, shared homework, and did crafts together without a word.  It was a good feeling; Zhane didn’t have to find words that he didn’t really want to stay.

There was a car in Justin’s driveway when they reached it.  “That’s my dad,” Justin said, he smiled a little, “you’ll like him.”

They walked up the driveway and Zhane followed Justin inside.

“Is that you Justin?”  A man called from further into the house.

“Nope,” Justin called back, “it’s Captain Kirk and Commander Spock.”

Zhane promised himself that he’d get someone to show him the show Justin was referencing.  “Oh,” a tall man with light brown hair and a smile came out of the kitchen, “I didn’t realize.”

“Spur of the moment,” Justin said easily, “Zhane, this is my dad.  Dad, this is Zhane, he’s a friend of TJ’s and offered to walk me home from the park.”

“Hi,” the man said, “call me John.  It’s nice to meet you Zhane.”

“You to,” Zhane said, remembering to shake hands at the last moment.  “May I ask you a question, sir?”

“I guess,” John said, confused.

“Did you ever know a woman named Katanya?”  Zhane asked softly.

“I did,” John said, “we dated in college.”

Zhane smiled a little, “Katanya was my mother.”

“You’re  _Katanya’s Zhane?”_   John said, stunned.

“I am,” Zhane said.

“What a minute,” Justin said, “are you saying that my dad is  _your_  dad?”

“My mom said he was,” Zhane said.

“What are you doing on Earth?”  John asked.

Zhane bit his lip, and decided to take a chance, “I’m the Silver Astro Ranger, down in Angel Grove.  TJ and the others are my teammates now.  They wanted to come see Justin, and I came along to see more of my father’s home planet.”

“Did you know?”  Justin asked.

“I suspected,” Zhane said, “I knew my father’s name was Jonathon Stewart, but my mom called him Johnny.  Besides, everyone kept saying how alike we were.”  He looked from Justin to John, “Of course, I think we should have a DNA test to make sure.  The megaship is capable of running those tests in under an hour.”

John nodded a little, “Wait, is Justin a Ranger?”

“No,” Justin said firmly.  “I found out the Turbo identities on accident during one of Divatox’s schemes.  They looked after me and became my friends.”

“He could be a Ranger,” Zhane said with a shrug.  “I mean, Mom’s family has always had strong potential, Mom was a Ranger and so am I.  There’s probably a morpher waiting for him somewhere.”

His communicator went off and Zhane hissed, “No, not  _now.”_

“What?”  John asked.

“I need to get back to the megaship,” Zhane said, “There’s probably an attack.”

“Zhane,” John said.

“Go for Zhane,” Zhane said as he answered his communicator.

“Astronema’s sent down Quantrons and a monster,” Andros said, “we need you fast.”

“On my way,” Zhane said.  He looked at John and Justin, “I’m not going to vanish, not when I just found you, but I have to go.”  He pulled out his Digimorpher and said, “Let’s Rocket.”  Silver sparkles signaled the beginning of the teleport, obscuring his view of his brother and father.

 


	13. Old Friends United

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was randomly reading MTW again and I got a bit inspired. So I watched Zhane's Destiny and this resulted. This takes place at the end of Zhane's Destiny and makes some changes to the show.

As Zhane stared up at Darkonda, he could feel a very inappropriate urge to laugh steal over him, but before it could emerge as giggles, someone shouted his name.  Zhane rolled, and caught his super silverizer, but he couldn’t see who had thrown it in the dark cavern.  Finishing the roll, Zhane flipped to his feet, drawing on all of his energy to knock back Darkonda.

“I will return!”  Darkonda howled as sparks flew around him.

“Sadly, you’ll still be ugly,” Zhane muttered as he turned to look for his savior.

“One would think after all this time, you’d stop needing me to save you,” Jos said as he stepped into the light.

“Jos,” Zhane said as his morph shattered around him.  “You’re dead.”

“Not- exactly,” Jos said carefully.

Zhane didn’t even think before his fist slammed into Jos’s gut, causing him to double up.  “What were you thinking?  Were you even thinking?”

“Zhane?”  Jos wheezed.

“You left Andros alone!”  Zhane snapped, “You let him think you were dead!”

“But-“ Jos said.

Zhane stepped back, not wanting to hit the former blue ranger again.  “I got hurt, I was in stasis for _two years,_ Jos.  You left Andros.  Why?  What happened?  Why didn’t you try to contact him?  People knew how to get in touch with Andros.”

“We were captured,” Jos said as he leaned against the wall and cradling his stomach.  “We got the colonists to Nambi and were coming back.  We self-destructed Beta and tried to get away on our boards.  They captured us and Analyn got hurt.  We sent the morpher back because we didn’t expect to get away.”

“How?”  Zhane said.

“They transferred us to some prison planet,” Jos said, “Analyn’s arm was damaged so badly they actually had to amputate it.  About a year later, we escaped.  We ended up on Ketrian, they got us to Aquitar, and the Aquitians helped us find the rebels.  By then, all anyone really knew about Andros was that he was running missions for Zordon and no one knew how to get in touch.  They said, they said you were dead.”

“Stasis,” Zhane said shortly.  “Where’s Analyn?”

“She’s at the ship,” Jos said.  “The Ketrian set her up with an arm, but, you know she can’t morph.”

“I know,” Zhane said.  No one had managed to make a prosthetic that could integrate with the Power, not at the level a Ranger needed.  “Andros found a new team.  Earthians.”  He offered his hand to Jos, “Come on, they’ve probably defeated that coral creature by now.”

“Earthians,” Jos said, “wasn’t your dad?”

“Yes, he is,” Zhane said.  “Actually got to meet him, and my little brother.”

“No,” Jos said.

“Justin Stewart, Blue Turbo Ranger,” Zhane said cheerfully.  “You’d like him.”

Jos laughed, “I bet I would.”

They headed back towards the main part of the cave and Zhane smiled as he heard Ashley talking with Kinwon.  He glanced at Jos and gave him an outrageous wink that made Jos stare at him suspiciously. 

“Andros!” Zhane announced, latching onto Jos’s arm and hauling him pointedly into the center of the group, “Look what I found!”

Andros swayed, clearly stunned.  Ashley gripped his arm to steady him.

“Really Zhane,” Jos said, “are you ever going to grow up?”

Zhane grinned at him, “Where’s the fun in that?”

“Jos,” Andros said brokenly.

“Hi,” Jos said.  “I’m sorry.  We were captured, lost Beta.”

“Your morphers,” Andros said.

“We both thought we were going to die,” Jos said, “We thought it was best, and then Analyn got hurt.  We were prisoners for a year before we could escape.”

“Is she here?”  Andros asked.

“She’s at the ship,” Jos said.  “Andros, they had to take her arm.  The prosthetic is good, but.”

“I know,” Andros said.  He glanced at Ashley, reaching over to squeeze her hand and pull her into a gentle hug.  “This is Ashley, our Astro Yellow, Cassie, who is Astro Pink, Carlos, who is Astro Black, and TJ, who is Astro Blue.  Guys, this is Jos of KO-35, the first Blue Astro Ranger.”

Jos nodded and Zhane noticed TJ frowning.  “I don’t want the morpher back,” Jos said, “I gave it up.  I trust that Andros gave it to the best person he could.”

“Wait a minute,” Ashley said, eyeing Zhane, “You said you never met a female Ranger.”

Zhane hesitated, and Andros chuckled, “I missed that one.”

“Wasn’t your _mom_ a green ranger?”  Jos said.

Zhane shook his head, “It seemed like a good line at the time?”

Jos gripped his shoulder, “You’re many things, Zhane, but you’ve never been a flirt.”

Zhane sighed, “No, I don’t think I am.”  He grinned, “But then, I’m not the only one who was bad at relationships.”

“Oh he’s gotten better.”

It was Analyn, still with the quiet smile and short cut hair, but her features were marred with scars and her left arm had been replaced with a light pink prosthetics.

“Analyn,” Andros said.

“Hi Andros,” Analyn said.

“I thought you were dead,” Andros breathed.  “I- I thought, I couldn’t say, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Analyn said as she walked over and kissed his cheek.  “It was as much my fault as it was yours.”

“It was good though,” Andros said, staring at her.

“It was,” Analyn said, “but we weren’t meant to be.”

“I know,” Andros said.  “I didn’t understand back then, but I do now.  Besides, this is Ashley.”

Analyn smiled as she turned, “Hi, I’m Analyn.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ashley said.  “Sorry if we’re quiet.  Andros didn’t exactly talk much about before.  I think I’m in shock.”

“It’s okay,” Analyn said, “I would be the same.”

“I’m Cassie,” Cassie said, “I think I have your morpher.”

“It’s yours now,” Analyn said, “I couldn’t morph if I wanted to.”  She held up her arm, making a fist, then flexing.  She then reached over and squeezed Cassie’s arm, “Like Jos said, Andros picked you.  I know you’re the best choice for the team.”

Cassie ducked her head and glanced at Andros.

“Commander Kinwon.”

The words made Zhane jumped, he’d honestly forgotten they had an audience.

“We’re moving forward with the evacuation,” one of the rebels announced.

“Thank you,” Kinwon said, he turned back, “You’ll have to excuse us if we seem inhospitable, but now that Dark Spector has located us, we must move.”

“Can we help?”  Ashley said.

“Well, we do have a lot to move,” Kinwon said.

As the Rangers began collected boxes, Zhane caught Andros’s arm, holding him back.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”  Zhane said.

“They don’t have any real protection,” Andros said.

“We can’t leave them unprotected,” Zhane said.  “We promised.”

“We also promised to stop Dark Spector and save Zordon,” Andros said.

He didn’t want to say it, but Zhane could see the resigned understanding in Andros’s face.

“Hey, is everything okay?”  Jos called.

Zhane glanced over at him, “We were just wondering if you had an extra bunk.”  Zhane said.

“What for?”  Jos said.

“Did you really think we’d leave you guys without some back up,” Zhane said.  “I’m sticking around for a bit.  You guys need me.”

“What about your team?”  Jos asked.

“They’ll understand,” Zhane said.  “I’m needed here more right now.”  He glanced at Andros, “I’ll be there when they need me.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This kicks of the Silver Arcs, the stories of the Silver Rangers who fought for Earth and their role in dealing with SPD, a Universe on the brink of war, and their teams. The other stories will follow in swift succession.


End file.
